The Zou

As you all know, last night was huge. Bigger than huge. As Barney Stinson would say, “It was Legend…wait for it…dary! Legendary!”

If any of you scrubs don’t know what I’m talking about, last night Mizzou emerged victorious over Texas A&M, beating them 28-21 and moving on to the SEC Championship.

This is a big deal, guys.

After arriving back in Columbia yesterday afternoon, I headed down to the stadium with the rest of my floor at almost 3 hours before game time and managed to snag 3-5th row seats on the 40 yard line (I was sandwiched in the 4th row).

And what a game it was.

The funny thing is, I never cared about football before this season. Not even a little bit. In fact, I disliked how much emphasis was placed on the institution. I went on many rants about how society is too sports-focused and that the perks athletes receive weren’t fair or sensible.

But now my friends send me Snapchats saying things like “Gurl, you’re all about dat football life.” And I’m not, I promise. I just like Mizzou football, okay? I’m not a really fan of any NFL teams and I still don’t really understand everything about the sport as a whole. It’s just that living on a floor of mostly football-oriented guys and attending a big SEC school rubs off on you. And that’s not a bad thing.

And last night after the game when the field was stormed, I was part of the mob. I tripped and almost fell flat on my face twice, I was pushed around in the giant mob, I was separated from all but two of my group. But I made it. And it was great.

Really, I’m just so happy to have been a part of last night’s game. Last night, standing on that field, jumping and chanting “SEC” and “We want Auburn” was the first night I truly felt the “One Mizzou” mantra which has been thrown at us freshmen since Summer Welcome was true. Standing under those lights, we were one. I was and am part of something big.